You wrote:"The biggest reason that people don't do things in accordance with Scripture is because they are UN-Scriptural and UN-Spiritual, and generally UN-believers (Matthew 7:13-14)."
That IS a possibility, but I have learned not to assume that such is always the case. I know many godly believers (far more spiritual and godly than myself) who are in institutional systems. I was myself for many years. Was an "ordained, Reverend clergyman" even! I had simply accepted the system in which I'd grown up as being what God intended! It was only after God brought circumstances into my life and compelled me to search the scriptures and compare what was there to what we practiced that I began to realize that we had been far from the mark for centuries.
For that reason, I believe we need to be patient with others in the system. Maybe these dicussions are the very first time such practices have ever been challenged in their thinking. I certainly wrestled with these things for months before I made any break. When I did it was costly to be sure, but we have never ever regretted obeying the Lord and following His Word!
So I try to keep II Timothy 2:24 in mind: "The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves;"
Bruce
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